theologer

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

I read:

By faith it IS possible to please Him. And without it we lack even a chance so...
First believe He exists. Check.
Next believe that He rewards those who seek him. Check
Now I can draw near to God.

Interesting, that in order to draw near, we have to believe that the Lord will bless our efforts in seeking Him. That is, we not only have to seek God to draw near, but we have to believe that it will yield something valuable.

Faith. And then we can please Him. But this isn't supposed to be something which we DO. It's supposed to lead us to Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews is saying that God DOES reward those who seek Him. Then he's saying it's only by faith - belief, not action - that we please the Lord.

Belief. Not action. Get that? Faith.

"For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers" - Hebrews 2:11

Today we had a guest speaker come in to class and share some things with us on our class on the theology of ministry. He asked us what is one thing we can do to be better Christians. So think about that for a second before you go on.

What is one thing you can do to be a better Christian?

There were varied answers from "pray and fast more" or "tithe better" to "nothing." I answered that we should sin more so that grace may abound (don't worry, it was in jest).

Anyhow, I thought his point was interesting, it being that as believers we generally believe we are justified by faith - though many of us may live to contrary. But then we also believe that we are sanctified through effort.

Now you may have never thought of it this way, but even those of us who genuinely believe that nothing we can do could possibly earn us salvation - we are the same people who live as focused as we can to be sanctified by own own effort or strength.

I thought this interesting as I was chewing on it today in class. I certainly do live like I am the only one who can sanctify myself. But Hebrews 2 reminds us that it is Jesus who does the sanctifying work, not us.

I certainly need to go dwell on that.

I'm in the airport about to fly home... alone... so I have plenty of time to mull this over (yea right... like you can just figure it out in a few hours... but I can certainly try).

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." - Hebrews 12:28-29

Today a guy in my class preached on this scripture and what he said was pretty fascinating, focusing mostly on the consuming fire.

He also talked about how we should be grateful and offer acceptable worship to God because we've been given a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Imagine if we were given something as our inheritance which was perishable?

Or even built well but with a poor foundation. I'm pleased to think that our inheritance in the kingdom will not pass away, or be affected by floods or earthquakes. I can leave candles on in the house and not be worried about them burning it down in my heavenly inheritance.

But then this verse is followed by the consuming fire. Our God is a force to be reckoned with, the same God that can provide something which cant be shaken, can also utterly destroy.

We worship a powerful God. I have a friend who is 6'6", he is half Native American and half Hispanic, and just got out of the marines. You would NOT want to meet this guy in a dark alley, but I can walk comfortably knowing he's on my side. A guy that big, he's good to have on your side.

God's the biggest, the toughest, and the scariest, but He's on our side, He's our friend, and we don't need to be afraid because we're with Him. And he has given us a good gift, an unshakable kingdom.

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - Hebrews 4:16

I realized today how much I live my life without this grace. I know about grace. I believe in grace. But I live like I am the creator of my own salvation. I live like I alone can bail myself out of my sin.

But the Lord offers mercy; grace in my time of need. Instead I look to my own strength to solve my problems, and determine to "do better next time." I awake and think these things would go away if my quiet times were longer. If only I focused more on the scripture.

I've forgotten Hudson Taylor's reminders of constant abiding in the Lord. I don't have to work at it to be a citizen of the Kingdom, loved and looked out for by the King. I am a citizen, and now nothing I can do will change that.

I do have the opportunity to fight for the King (see this morning's post about being a violent man). And I should see it as a privilege in the same way I would love to play for the Denver Broncos. Except I'm already on this team. Fighting for this side. And I just keep running to the corner, thinking the Lord wont let me on the starting team unless I kiss up. But he's counted me worthy.

Lord I desire grace, to recognize your grace, to live your grace, to accept your grace, to rejoice in your grace.

"Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." - Hebrews 13:1-2

Its a wonder to me why the Lord would send His angels to be entertained by man. But that said, its even more a wonder to me this would be used as a reason to show brotherly love to all. Imagine everyone you're friendly to and hoping maybe they're an angel and somehow blessing an angel is a better thing to do than blessing man.

Either way, I think it more likely that occasionally there have been angels entertaining us, or helping us along. I remember one time as a child traveling through a remote part of Austria we were very very lost and on foot and very tired. No one around spoke English and my father's German wasn't quite good enough to ask for directions. There was no one for several miles as we walked and then randomly on some steps to a very old building was a man sitting outside reading "Jurassic Park."

Not only was it a surprise he was reading an English book but even more so he knew the obscure place we were heading and was more than helpful in getting us there. As we walked away I remember my mother commenting that she'd thought that man was an angel. I was young and I remember being impressed an angel could look so warm and welcoming.

Whether he was or not, he showed us brotherly love, and I hope someday someone might be wondering the same thing about me and some help I'm able to offer.

I also wonder if the Lord and His army of angels has some affinity for Michael Crichton.

Okay I just wanted to update my thoughts on this whole wife becoming Roman Catholic deal. I posted briefly here.

And want to say after further reading it was much less one-sided than I originally read. My new view of what went down is available in the forums.

"But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." - Hebrews 11:16

I chewed on this for a bit knowing it to be significant but not able to sort out what I thought about it. Barnes' New Testament Notes brought it into a focus a bit for me. These are the people who are "so heavenly minded they're of no earthly good." Or rather, they are forgetting the things of the world and doing what pleases their father because they're looking forward to heaven.

This comes in the midst of the long section in Hebrews on faith, a section I have skipped over many times as it has often seemed monotonous. But reading this yesterday brought what was dull to light for me. The Lord is proud to call those who seek the eternal His children. Are you seeking the eternal? So many things on this earth have become so attractive to me that I often forget the eternal.

I'm reminded the significance of living by faith, living for the eternal, after all those who lived by faith,

"conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection." - verse 33-35.

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

I love that he rewards those who seek Him. I cant always pull it together, but I always hope He has grace for those who are earnestly seeking. I want to seek God. To seek Him more than comfort, wisdom, even knowledge, fame, peace, health. All things I've worshipped.

Help me Father, to seek you.